Dr. Oz: Artificial Sweetener Addiction & Difficulty Processing Glucose

Dr. Oz: Addicted to Artificial Sweeteners

Dr. Oz talked to a woman named Kristen who is addicted to artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners seem like a great way to avoid calories while still enjoying some sweetness. But they can have a bad effect on our health. Kristen is a 44-year-old personal trainer and she’s addicted to artificial sweeteners, so you know anyone can easily fall prey to this addiction.

Dr. Oz talked to a woman named Kristen who was addicted to artificial sweeteners. The artificial sweeteners are damaging her kidney, so she needs a change.

Kristen started using artificial sweeteners as a substitute for sugar. But now, it’s out of control. She’ll use 20 to 25 packets of artificial sweeteners in one day. She also has about three glasses of diet soda a day. She also drinks artificial sweetener drink mix drinks about five times a day. She carries artificial sweeteners with her.

Dr. Oz: Craving Artificial Sweeteners

Kristen said it takes her five or six packets to even taste the sweetness in her food. As a personal trainer, she talks about nutrition and what’s good for the body all the time. She feels like a hypocrite since she eats all these artificial sweeteners. She wondered if she was damaging her health.

Kristen said she craves the sweetness. So she’ll buy low-fat, sugar-free foods and sweeten them back up with the artificial sweeteners. She said she didn’t do the research to find out the repercussions of artificial sweeteners because she was afraid of what they might be.

Dr. Oz: Artificial Sweeteners Pose Danger to Health

Dr. Oz took her over to the Truth Tube. A lot of people who abuse artificial sweeteners aren’t as able to process their glucose. This is bad because it’s a precursor to diabetes. But the good news is that Kristen isn’t pre-diabetic or diabetic. She processes glucose okay. But the next thing was the effect of artificial sweeteners on the kidney. A recent study showed that people who drink two diet sodas a day over time develop kidney problems. The ideal kidney filtering rate is 60 ML per minute. Kristen’s number dropped down to 55 ML per minute. Because Kristen’s kidney function is worrisome, she needed to take action now to give up artificial sweeteners.

Kristen said she’s never tried to get off artificial sweeteners before because she didn’t know an alternative and she didn’t know it was bad for her body. But she said she was ready to make a change. So Dr. Oz had a plan to help people overcome their addiction to artificial sweeteners.